We’re now a couple of years on from SASAMI‘s self-titled debut album and itching for another. Today she returns with “Sorry Entertainer”, a Daniel Johnston cover that nonetheless gives us some insight into her current musical direction. She says:
“I made my last album when I was in a very emotionally vulnerable and tender place, but after a couple years of touring those same subtle, more sensitive songs, the live show became louder and more volatile. A bit before the pandemic took hold I was really getting back into metal and numetal, so a couple months into quarantine I made an acoustic version of the System of a Down song “Toxicity.” My sadness ripened into anger throughout 2020, and deeper into it I started experimenting with a heavier palette and decided to perform the inverse exercise of metallicizing an acoustic song. ‘Sorry Entertainer’ is my take on mixing the desperation of being a hopeless and powerless artist and the extremely powerful sounds of a metal band. Like giving a toddler a flamethrower… or a fullstack.”
SASAMI brings all that above-mentioned volatility and nu-metal influence to her version of “Sorry Entertainer”. She doesn’t change too much from Johnston’s original, but his was an extremely lo-fi recording and SASAMI’s is a full-on studio production, turning his strenuous strums into massive riffs. It’s an intriguing direction for her to take, but one which she’s evidently enjoying a lot.
Her excitement overflows into the video for “Sorry Entertainer”, which stars SASAMI and was directed by Patti Harrison and Alan Resnick. Watch it below or find the song on streaming platforms.
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